Click here to hear the poet read his words:
angels and mermaids
angels fly high and mermaids swim deep
neither murmurs a discordant sound
until the human truth betrays them
when they drift too close to the ground
when they drift too close to the ground
it is possible to tentatively find one
and carefully nurse her back to health
with the aid of a gently benign sun
with the aid of a gently benign sun
and love he restores her fully to life
but although she is everything he desires
he refuses to make her his wife
he refuses to make her his wife
he understands she will soon wither and weep
and so he sets her free because
angels fly high and mermaids swim deep
you cannot love
a butterfly
by pinning it to a wall
A exceptional story and theme!
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Thank you.
As his alter ego said, AnElephant still has a beautiful mermaid deep in his heart.
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An elephant has a big heart. That is a lot of love and the perfect depth for any mermaid.🎆❤
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I loved this one very much. The fairytale element of the mermaids and angels. Perhaps greater, the understanding that beings need to be themselves and allow to flourish in who they are, and that they can’t be trapped, controlled, and expected to nourish and grow. I sense regret, but also a strong knowledge, an understanding as noted in the last stanza that you “cannot love a butterfly by pinning it to a wall.”
Maybe it’s that relationships and people in them are delicate and require balance and space btwn them, for the relationship to grow? Maybe it’s that fine line btw being together, and apart, of knowing exactly how to tend angels and mermaids and care for them? Perhaps, it’s remembering there cannot be possessiveness and jealousy or both angels and mermaids wither? Is there a happy medium, the speaker might wonder? But, he implies, I think, there isn’t. I prefer to believe it’s a balance that you can have both some of the time — not all. Does the speaker’s wisdom say better? Hugs Pinky. My favourite is this one tonight 🙂
Maybe b/c I can relate to feeling like that trapped butterfly ready to swim or fly away. But maybe b/c I know it’s okay to fly down and swim up, if there’s someone who gives me enough reason to keep doing so, knowing I’ll come back if I’m not pinned & allowed to soar/swim too. Not sure yet 🙂
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Very excellent! I loved this.
Scott
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